THATTA, Feb 5: The Thatta chapter of the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture warned on Tuesday that the chamber would lay siege to sugar mills and convince growers to stop supply of their produce to mills and boycott sugarcane sowing the next season in protest against low rates and brokers system.

Thatta SCA President Syed Shahzad Shah, Arif Memon and Shafi Dhol Baran told journalists at a press conference at press club that just a couple of days after agreeing to pay Rs63 per 40 kg, Rs4 less than the official rate of Rs67, in a meeting with growers, the mills were again forcing the growers to supply cane at Rs57 on one or the other pretext.

Besides, the mills encouraged middlemen and brokers who were taking undue advantage of their plight by procuring 40kg of sugarcane at the rate of Rs54.

The mills had installed refract meters in their sector offices to deduct sucrose ratio rendering further financial loss to the growers, they said.

They said that a national agricultural conference convened by the Federation of Chamber of Agriculture Pakistan in October 2007 had recommended that the government should take concrete steps to encourage beet sowing in sugarcane fields.

Beet crop is comparatively low water absorbent and is harvested within five months. The dual crop would help minimise the growers’ problems, they said.

The Indian government encouraged sowing of beet crop, which not only helped overcome the growers’ problems but also generated income for the government, they said.